The U-28 sea monster

The story and the record

A U-boat captain said an explosion exposed a huge animal after he sank the British steamer Iberian. A later newspaper account claimed a drawing and report went into the submarine’s war diary. We checked the sinking entry.

The July 30, 1915 entry names Iberian and describes the attack, the sinking and bandages supplied to wounded men. The diary, a consular dispatch written the next day and a 1933 newspaper reprint bring the sinking into focus without confirming the creature.

What the sources can tell us

The inspected July 30, 1915 entry contains no animal description or drawing. This does not establish that the captain saw nothing or that no separate attachment existed. The 1933 newspaper date identifies this reprint, not the first telling. Separate attachments have not been exhaustively searched. The published Frost dispatch notes that its accompanying witness statements are not printed in that item.

1. U-28 war diary, July 30, 1915

   NARA, T1022 reel 33, PDF pages 700–701.

2. Deutsche Rundschau in Polen, December 24, 1933

   Page 7. A later reprint, not an established first telling.

3. Wesley Frost’s dispatch from Cork, July 31, 1915

   FRUS, document 740.

4. Iberian vessel-loss record

   Vessel context.